Have you noticed what students do when they’re curious about something? A few years ago, a common response to having a question about a text (or the world, for that matter) was to “ask Google.” Nowadays the common refrain seems to be “ask ChatGPT.” When students ask us questions, it sure makes us feel useful and validates our efforts. I particularly appreciate it when students ask me questions after first checking the text and their notes for the answer. Unfortunately, students can be so driven to cram material for a test or just get an assignment done that they don’t take the time to ask questions of us (or Google or ChatGPT) or even to question their own knowledge. It’s not just students either. Sometimes I’m so caught up in covering content that I forget to make space for questions. One simple teaching goal should be to get our students to question what they’re told or are learning. One simple measure of our efforts is how many questions we get.
